Mother asks for prayers for brave son battling brain cancer

A Visalia mother is asking for prayers for her 4-year-old son who was diagnosed yesterday with a stage 4 brain cancer.

“I want people to know how brave he is, what he’s going through and that we need everybody’s prayers because we want him better,” said Megan Shank.

His name is Cash Shank and he’s at Children’s Hospital Central California. Soon his surgery will be scheduled at UCSF. He has a brain tumor the size of a ping pong ball.

“He has the worst stage that you can have,” she said.

Today, he is in good spirits. He’s already had one surgery to put a shunt in his brain to relieve the pressure from fluid that built up.

“He’s an amazing boy,” she said.

When a family member told him that, she said he replied, “I’m not amazing. I’m a super hero.”

As for his mother, she said she is numb.

“It feels like a bad dream,” she said. “It’s like a movie you watch on Lifetime. You cry your eyes out for that move but you never think it will be you.”

To ease the financial burden, a relative set up an account at Bank of America for anyone to donate in his name, Cash Shank, account number 325005877078. The money will be used for unpaid medical expenses and family expenses related to Cash’s illness.

She had to quit her job because it didn’t offer her a leave of absence, she said. Her husband, Robert Shank, went on paid family leave from his job that provides the family with medical insurance. They have two other children, Wyatt, 7, and Gracie, 2.

“He was fine two weeks ago, perfectly fine,” she said. “Then the headaches started and then we’re told he has a brain tumor.”

Cash Shank, 4, was diagnosed with Stage 4 brain cancer on Thursday. His mother, Megan Shank, is asking for prayers for him.